World Literacy Canada announced last week that after 40-plus years of support, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has decided not to renew the organization’s funding. The Toronto-based NGO, which has fought to increase literacy and empower women and children in Canada, India, and Nepal for the past 56 years, traditionally relied on CIDA to match individual donations and is now struggling to make do without a substantial portion of their usual resources.
“We’re just in the process of determining the impact now,” said World Literacy Canada’s Executive Director Mamta Mishra. “We have a meeting scheduled from which we will come out knowing where the cuts will be.”
World Literacy Canada is the latest to be affected by CIDA’s shifting priorities, which, according to the organization's website, have resulted in a loss of funding for 100 charities and non-profits. In the past year and a half, CIDA has shifted from the traditional voluntary funding process, wherein organizations could apply for funding at any time and their application was evaluated individually, to a competitive bidding model, where all organizations have to submit their applications at a set date, and their proposals are weighted against one another.
Further complicating the issue, said Kimberly Gibbons, the CEO of the Ontario Council for International Cooperation (of which World Literacy Canada is a member), is that CIDA has recently outlined a new set of priority countries and issues that are first in line to receive government funding. Under the new restrictions, CIDA received 167 proposals from organizations requesting under $2 million in funding in the last application round. Of those that applied, 116 were deemed eligible, and only 30 approved for funding—that's 18 per cent of applicants. “This is the first time that a competitive round has been used,” said Gibbons. “It’s very significant that such a small portion have been approved.”
The organizations whose funding has not been renewed are now left to struggle with covering operational costs until they find out when they are eligible to reapply for the next round. “It represents a big challenge for organizations that have had relationships with CIDA for 30 or 40 years to now have to submit to calls for proposals,” says Chantal Havard, communications and government relations Officer for the Canadian Council for International Cooperation in Ottawa. “Organizations can apply for the next round, but they don’t know when it will be. Meanwhile, for many NGOs that had between 25 and 70 per cent of their funding come from CIDA, it’s a big, big gap. It’s difficult to compensate for that core funding.”
While World Literacy Canada is hoping that an increased focus on fundraising will make up the difference, Havard is quick to note that actual money is not the only thing that organizations denied renewal will now have to go without. “When an organization loses CIDA funding, not only do they lose those funds, but also the leverage effect that the funding has,” she said, pointing out that in provinces like Saskatchewan, CIDA funding can be a requirement for receiving provincial funding. “The fact that they receive money from their own government [through CIDA] gives an organization recognition and credibility,” she adds. “It’s not only the money, but that it represents the capacity to raise funds from other sources.”
On January 30, The Globe and Mail reported that as part of its new development strategy, CIDA has begun building partnerships with mining corporations. The news that CIDA will fund overseas projects in Africa and South American in conjunction with controversial mining firms corresponds to the agency’s evolving focus, which is increasingly moving towards supporting NGOs that have partnered with private companies.
All the organizations who have lost their funding can do in the meantime is wait, and try to see a silver lining. “What we as an organization feel is most important right now is to get the information on aid out, through features like The New Humanitarians series, so that people can look at what commitment Canada has to overseas development assistance,” says Mishra. “World Literacy Canada, along with everyone else, is interested in that debate to determine Canadian values. I don’t think Canadians have had a chance to have that debate yet.”
